Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Lightning Thief

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Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson and the Olympian: The Lightning Thief is a movie directed by Chris Columbus (Castro) that borrows and distorts many facts from the Greek mythologies. For instance, in Greek myths, the gods were based on Mount Olympus and involved themselves in the lives of humans. In the film, Mt. Olympus is accessed via the Empire State Building and the gods also interfere with the lives of human beings. In Greek mythology, the children born by a god and a human, for example, Hercules and Perseus were referred to as demigods. In the movie, Percy Jackson is a demigod since he is the son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson (Castro). The movie takes the idea of demigods from the original Greek mythologies and makes additions to those myths. Also, the legend of Medusa has been shown in the film. Medusa is the monster with snakes on her head and turns men into stone when they look at her. In the movie, Percy fights Medusa with an iPhone contrary to the Greek tales where she is conquered using the reflection of a shield. Additionally, Hydra from the myths of the 12 labors of Hercules has been shown in the film where Percy fights the monster in the Parthenon museum of Nashville rather than Lake Lerna from the myths. Details from the epic poem The Odyssey have also been used whereby Percy and his companions are fed flowers that gives them such a euphoria that they do not want to leave the Lotus Casino in Las Vegas (Castro).

In the Greek mythology, Odysseus and his companions were blown to the Lotus Eaters’ land where his companions were fed flowers that gave them the desire to remain on that land. The significance of the modern context is to trick the audience into learning about the Greek mythologies.
Work Cited
Castro, Adam-Troy. “The REAL Myths Behind Percy Jackson’s Fake Myths.” Syfy, 2012, http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/the_real_myths_behind_per. Accessed 3 July 2018.